Acts 6:8-10,7:54-59; Matt 10:17-22
Theme: Martyrdom As Christian Share in Christ’s Joy
St. Stephen, who is one of the first deacons of the Church, is presented as the first martyr of the Church. Is it per chance that this feast is celebrated just immediately after the feast of the birth of Christ? After the birth of Christ, the angels sent the good news to the shepherds and told them that the birth of Christ would be a great joy for all the people (Lk 2:10). Then in yesterday’s gospel, John the evangelist told us that the Word of God which is Christ has come and pitched his tent among us and that God now lives with us. As such, he calls us to accept Christ in order to receive the power of becoming God’s children.
Stephen is one of the disciples who accepted Jesus and were wishing to be part of that great joy which his birth and death on the cross supposed to bring to all the people. But what are we celebrating today? We are not
celebrating Stephen who was enjoying all the good things of life and was having an easy life because he accepted Christ. We are not celebrating Stephen who was dressing in fine clothes and having successes in the world because he became a believer who professed and accepted Christ. We are instead celebrating Stephen who was stoned to death because he was professing Jesus as the Son of God who came to save us. We are celebrating Stephen who did nothing wrong to anyone except that he believed and was testifying Jesus to be the Lord and Savior. And yet, the angel says that Jesus brought a great joy to all who would accept him.
So, is martyrdom the great joy professed by the angel? Is death by stoning a way of becoming God’s child? Is this what we are called to expect when we become God’s children? In what lies the joy then if the first set of disciples who were bold to testify to the Lordship of Jesus, only ended up being killed by men? If Emmanuel means that God is with us, and if Christ is born to us in order to bring God to live in our midst, how would God live in the midst of the people and yet those who believe in him are being martyred? Is this what it means to bear witness? Is death by martyrdom a way of sharing in the great joy of Christ? These and many others are what the feast of St. Stephen presents to us. We have to remember that the same gospel of John which we took on yesterday (Jn 1:1-14), in v.12, we are told that some people who were supposed to be of Christ, fail to receive him when he came.
Hence, not everybody received Christ and his new kingdom. To some people, it is a phenomenon that cannot be comprehended. To some others, it is a disturbance to a status-quo. Some people will not only not believe nor accept the way of Christ, but they will also go to any extent to make sure it does not spread. It is about this kind of people that Jesus is warning his disciples today in the gospel. If we are ready to bear the name of Christ, we must be ready to
be seen as going against the world’s current. If we are ready to live as those who have God living in their midst, we must be ready to face others who do not want to hear the name of Christ and his message of truth.
The joy of Christ to the believers consists therefore firstly, in having ourselves be freed from the falsehood of the world, and then in being courageous to
stand up for the truth of the gospel in a world that has closed itself up from the freedom of Christ. As they were stoning Stephen, he was giving thanks to God because he has been made to participate in the new mission of Christ: the mission of sacrifice, the mission of insisting on the truth even when one’s life is at stake.
Therefore, it becomes important that this feast of the first martyrdom be placed at this point so that it clarifies and explains to us what we must expect as those who decide to accept and live by the teachings of Christ. The joy of Christ is not the joy of the world. The joy of Christ is the joy that we have been set free from fear of sin and darkness. It is the joy that we can now call God, Abba, Father. It is the joy that we can now stand very tall and insist on the
truth even when every other person is avoiding it. It is the joy that pushes us to give everything for the sake of the gospel of truth. It is the joy that makes us to live like Christ and be always identified with him. It is the joy that comes when we must have won the fear of persecution, and the fear of the world.
St. Stephen is now being celebrated among the whole faithful as a true disciple.
Are we going to be celebrated by others as good men and women, as those whose lives reflect what they are? My dear friends in Christ, we have to learn how to give up our pleasures for the sake of Christ. Although in many parts of the world, like in Nigeria, Christians are still being killed for being Christians. People would go for Mass and while Holy Mass is going on, some unknown armed people would come into the Church, kill some, and take others away. In this kind of situation, let us always ask: what would the early Christians do? I will tell you what they would have done. They would have continued to increase in their numbers. And instead of living in fear and denying their faith or becoming lukewarm, they would continue to go openly and more confidently.
On the other hand, some of us might not have the experience of blood martyrdom. But every day, we are presented with great opportunities of becoming martyrs. When confronted with our bodily desires; when we are left to choose between saying the truth and suffer or tell lies and be free; when we are faced with sacrificing little things or some of the things we have
for those who experience want and lack; when we have an opportunity to save life; when we have the push from our inclination to do bad things; ETC In such situations, our ability to ask “What would Jesus do?” and to do the right thing, relying on the commandment of love, is what defines us as God’s children.
May God help us not to be answering Christians and yet our lives do not show us to be Christians. May the spirit that strengthened Stephen in the difficult moment of proving his faith, always strengthen us as to bear witness to Christ even in the little things of life. Amen.
Wishing you the joy of a holy martyrdom through self-mortifications.
Fr. Chukwuezugo Nnamah